PART 4
I knew that face.
I just couldn’t understand how.
The car disappeared around the corner, but I remained frozen beside the window.
Mom stood behind me.
“Alicia?”
I didn’t answer.
“Who was driving?”
I slowly lowered the curtain.
“I don’t know.”
Mom’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, you do.”
I turned around.
“I’ve seen him before.”
“Where?”
I looked at the photograph still lying on the table.
Eleven years earlier.
The night before my wedding.
A memory surfaced.
A dark hallway.
Rain against a window.
A man standing beside Daniel.
I had forgotten his face.
But not his voice.
My stomach twisted.
“Mom, what happened the night before I married Theo?”
She stared at me.
“You really don’t remember?”
“I remember fighting with you.”
“That wasn’t the only thing.”
“What else?”
Mom sat down.
“You came home at three in the morning.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“You were crying.”
“Because of Daniel?”
“No.”
She looked toward the window.
“Because of someone else.”
I felt a chill.
“Who?”
Mom didn’t answer.
“Who, Mom?”
She finally looked at me.
“The man in the car.”
My heart began pounding.
“You know him?”
“I knew his name.”
“What was it?”
Mom hesitated.
“Victor.”
The name hit me like a sudden flash of lightning.
Victor.
I remembered.
Not clearly.
But enough.
Victor had been Daniel’s older brother.
Or at least that’s what Daniel had told me.
He was the person Daniel said I should never meet.
The person Daniel said was dangerous.
The person who disappeared after I ended our relationship.
I grabbed my phone.
Theo was still on the line.
“Are you there?”
“Yes.”
“Who is Victor?”
There was silence.
“How do you know that name?”
“Daniel told me.”
My heart sank.
“What else did Daniel tell you?”
“He said Victor was the reason you left him.”
I closed my eyes.
“No.”
“What?”
“That’s not why I left Daniel.”
“Then why?”
I looked at Mom.
She shook her head.
“Because I found out what they were doing.”
Theo’s breathing changed.
“What were they doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“I mean, I thought I knew.”
“Then tell me what you remember.”
I walked toward the table.
The photograph of the hospital room was still there.
Daniel standing beside Theo’s hospital bed.
Three days after his diagnosis.
There was something in the photograph I’d missed.
A reflection in the glass.
Someone standing behind the photographer.
I picked up my phone and enlarged it.
A man.
Victor.
I felt sick.
“He was there.”
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
Theo went silent.
Then he whispered:
“I know.”
“What?”
“I saw him.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“The night before I started chemotherapy.”
“You never told me.”
“I thought he was someone from the hospital.”
“Did he talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Theo didn’t answer immediately.
“Tell me.”
“He asked me if you had ever mentioned Daniel.”
My knees weakened.
“What did you say?”
“I told him no.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know who Daniel was.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Then what happened?”
“He left.”
“And you never thought it was strange?”
“I did.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were asleep.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
“Alicia—”
“I was always asleep when something important happened.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“It isn’t.”
There was silence.
Then Theo said:
“I found something else.”
“What?”
“I’m coming to your mother’s house.”
“No.”
“Alicia—”
“Don’t come here.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone is watching us, I don’t want them knowing we’re together.”
Theo paused.
“Okay.”
Then his voice dropped.
“But you need to listen carefully.”
“What?”
“The insurance company didn’t pay for all my treatment.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“There were payments.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
“How much?”
“More than two hundred thousand dollars.”
My mouth went dry.
“What?”
“Someone paid the difference.”
“Who?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
I looked at Mom.
She had heard everything.
“Why would someone pay for your treatment?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe it was a charity.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the payments came through a private account.”
“Whose?”
“The account belonged to a company.”
“What company?”
Theo hesitated.
“Silver Pine Holdings.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Until Mom suddenly stood up.
Her face had gone white.
“Mom?”
She stared at me.
“Say that name again.”
“Silver Pine Holdings.”
Mom took a step backward.
“No.”
“What?”
“No, no, no.”
“Mom, what is it?”
She sat down again.
Her hands were trembling.
“I haven’t heard that name in years.”
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because your father worked for them.”
I stared at her.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
My father had died when I was sixteen.
I’d spent years believing he worked in construction.
That was what Mom had always told me.
“What did he actually do?”
Mom closed her eyes.
“He handled accounts.”
“What kind of accounts?”
“Private clients.”
“That doesn’t explain anything.”
“He wasn’t a construction worker.”
My heart began pounding.
“Then what was he?”
“A financial manager.”
I stared at her.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid.”
“Of who?”
Mom looked toward the window.
“Victor.”
The room went silent.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“My father knew Victor?”
“He knew Daniel’s family.”
“How?”
“I don’t know all of it.”
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Mom looked at the photograph.
“Your father discovered that money was being moved through Silver Pine.”
“Illegal money?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom!”
“I told you I don’t know!”
She covered her face.
“I was scared.”
“For how long?”
“All these years.”
I stepped closer.
“What happened to Dad?”
Mom didn’t answer.
“Mom.”
“He died in an accident.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“You know what I told you.”
My blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
“He didn’t die in an accident.”
I couldn’t speak.
Mom’s eyes filled with tears.
“Your father was killed.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
“I should have told you.”
“No.”
“Alicia—”
“You said it was a car accident.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted you alive.”
I backed away.
“How did he die?”
Mom looked down.
“His car was forced off the road.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“Who did it?”
“We never proved anything.”
“But you suspected Victor.”
“Yes.”
I thought about the man in the car.
The man who had been watching my mother’s house.
The man who had appeared in Theo’s hospital photograph.
The man who had supposedly disappeared eleven years ago.
“Why is he back?”
Mom didn’t answer.
My phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
Ask your mother what happened at the lake.
I looked up.
Mom’s face changed.
“What lake?”
She stared at my phone.
“The lake.”
“Mom, what happened at the lake?”
She stood.
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
“I’m not leaving until you tell me.”
“Alicia, listen to me.”
Her voice broke.
“You have no idea what you’ve stepped into.”
“I’ve already lost eleven years of my life to secrets.”
“Then don’t lose the rest.”
“What happened at the lake?”
Mom started crying.
“Daniel was there.”
I froze.
“When?”
“The night before your wedding.”
My stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“You and Daniel argued.”
“About what?”
“About Victor.”
I remembered the rain.
Daniel’s voice.
His hands shaking.
A sentence.
Something he’d said.
If you marry Theo, he’ll pay for it.
I had always believed he meant Daniel.
Now I wasn’t sure.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“Why did Daniel threaten Theo?”
She looked at me.
“He didn’t.”
“What?”
“Daniel was trying to protect him.”
I felt dizzy.
“Protect him from what?”
Mom whispered:
“From you.”
I stared at her.
“From me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you had already been lied to.”
“By who?”
Mom didn’t answer.
My phone buzzed again.
Another message.
Your mother knows.
Then another.
Theo knows less than he thinks.
Then a photograph.
I opened it.
My hands began shaking.
It was a picture of Theo.
Not from today.
From eleven years ago.
He was standing outside the hospital where he had taken me for an emergency visit after I collapsed from exhaustion.
But Theo wasn’t alone.
Standing beside him was Daniel.
And behind them was Victor.
I zoomed in.
There was a fourth person.
A woman.
I didn’t recognize her.
But Theo did.
Because the moment I sent him the photograph, he called me.
“Where did you get that?”
“Someone sent it.”
“Delete it.”
“Who is she?”
“Alicia, delete it.”
“Who is she?”
His breathing became uneven.
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can’t tell me?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Then tell me now.”
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“Alicia—”
“You’ve been hiding things from me for eleven years.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I laughed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“I mean it.”
“Who is she?”
Silence.
“Who?”
Finally, Theo whispered:
“She was my sister.”
I froze.
“You don’t have a sister.”
“I did.”
My heart pounded.
“What happened to her?”
“She died.”
“When?”
“Before I met you.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Then why was she standing beside you?”
“She wasn’t.”
“What?”
“That photograph was taken after she died.”
I couldn’t understand.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“Who took it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why were you at the hospital?”
“I was looking for her.”
“Why?”
“Because I found out she didn’t die the way I was told.”
My entire body went cold.
“What are you saying?”
Theo’s voice broke.
“My sister may still be alive.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then Mom whispered from behind me:
“She is.”
I turned around.
Mom was holding another photograph.
A photograph she had hidden for eleven years.
She handed it to me.
It showed a woman standing beside a lake.
The woman was older.
Different hair.
Different clothes.
But the face…
I knew that face.
I’d seen it my entire childhood.
On the wall in my father’s office.
In old family photographs.
My father’s secretary.
The woman everyone said had disappeared after Dad died.
I looked at Mom.
“Who is she?”
Mom’s voice trembled.
“Her name was Evelyn.”
“Theo’s sister?”
Mom nodded.
“And she was the last person your father spoke to before he died.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Something was written on the back.
A date.
And beneath it:
If anything happens to me, find Alicia.
My hands went numb.
“Why would she write my name?”
Mom didn’t answer.
I turned the photograph over.
There was another sentence.
She is the only person Victor won’t suspect.
I looked at Mom.
Then at Theo.
Then at the photograph.
Suddenly everything connected in the worst possible way.
Daniel.
Victor.
My father.
Theo’s sister.
The secret payments.
The hospital.
My marriage.
And the cancer.
I whispered:
“Theo…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t think your cancer was the reason they came back.”
Silence.
“I think your cancer was how they found you.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think someone wanted you close to me.”
“Why?”
I looked at the photograph of Evelyn.
And for the first time, I understood why someone had spent eleven years keeping secrets.
“Because they were looking for something my father left behind.”
“What?”
I looked toward Mom.
She was crying.
“Mom,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Where are Dad’s old financial records?”
Her face went completely blank.
Then she said:
“I burned them.”
“When?”
“The week before you married Theo.”
I stared at her.
“You burned everything?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Not everything.”
“What did you keep?”
Mom looked toward the attic.
“The account ledger.”
My heart pounded.
“Where is it?”
She didn’t answer.
“Mom.”
She finally whispered:
“Inside the wall.”
I looked at her in disbelief.
“What wall?”
“The wall in your old bedroom.”
I ran upstairs.
The old room looked exactly as it had when I’d left home.
I moved the dresser.
Behind it was a section of wall that looked slightly different.
I touched it.
Loose.
I pulled.
A small panel came away.
Inside was a black ledger wrapped in plastic.
I pulled it out.
Dust covered the cover.
I opened it.
The first pages contained names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Accounts.
Then I saw one name repeated over and over.
Theo Carter.
I stopped breathing.
Theo’s name was listed years before I ever met him.
I flipped the page.
More payments.
More dates.
And then one entry made my hands shake.
Payment authorized: Alicia Carter.
I stared at it.
My name.
Not my maiden name.
My married name.
But the date beside it was impossible.
It was dated three years before I married Theo.
I dropped the ledger.
My phone rang.
Theo.
I answered.
“Alicia?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m outside.”
I looked out the window.
His car was parked across the street.
He was standing beside it.
Then I saw someone standing behind him.
Victor.
I screamed:
“Theo, don’t move!”
He turned.
Victor raised one hand.
And in it…
Was the silver necklace.
The exact necklace I was holding.
Theo looked toward the house.
Then Victor said something to him.
Even from upstairs, I could tell Theo had gone pale.
My phone was still pressed to my ear.
“What did he say?” I whispered.
Theo didn’t answer.
“THEO!”
Finally, his voice came through.
“He said…”
Theo swallowed.
“He said the woman you’ve been calling your mother isn’t your mother.”
The phone slipped from my hand.
And downstairs, I heard Mom lock the front door.
From the inside……
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